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Thursday, March 11, 2010

MyDala Group Buying Vs KhojGuru - Discount Deals

With increasing number of Indians going online there is a need for Discount Search Engine. However, they have evolved in two different forms. One of the interesting concepts is that of MyDala - Discount Deals on Group Buying; thus the retailer or service provider gets volume and its a Win-Win Situation for both.

The other traditional way of passing Discount by means of Coupons [Airlines, Hotels, Retail Shopping, Clinics etc], but online now has been made possible by KhojGuru. You need to Register and Login to the site to download available discounts.

Services of both MyDala and KhojGuru are available in selected cities only.

Published on Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 11:07 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Yahoo Customized Homepage - IJW

We give a IJW - It Just Works rating for Customized home page of Yahoo. After having tried lots of ways to engage users on the Yahoo platform, finally they have found a way. Yahoo, neither had a browser nor killer Web 2.0 Applications / social network to keep its e-mail customers sticking to its platform. The new CEO had a complete change in strategy - getting rid of businesses where it is not possible to make money and focus on focus on embracing Web 2.0 and AJAX technologies and let users do what they want, but on Yahoo! platform.

They popped a window to me and asked if I wanted to add my favorite feeds to Yahoo! homepage and I did and that of GoBroadband and screen shot is as below.

The pane can be customized for you to view Text, Description, Images of your favorite feeds. What I really liked is, I didn't give the correct feed address, but it was smart enough to pick it up :-)

Additionally, within the same pane, you can also read your e-mails and do whatever you like to do. Yahoo! just displays an Ad next to the area where you are working. In a way of speaking, the GUI appeal and ability to work is better than Google's Customized homepage with gadgets etc. I am pretty sure this must have boosted page views as well as user engagement time on the Yahoo platform.

Published on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 6:48 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Migrating SMF from One Domain to Other

Recently I had to migrate a SMF Forum hosted on one domain to another. In this process the servers also changed as both the domains are hosted on different servers. Assume, abc.com/forum is the original site hosting the SMF forum and was migrated to xyz.com/forum

Where to start ? SMF Community has done a good job in documenting the migration process which you have to read it carefully.

Here is what I did,

Download the entire site abc.com/forum using your FTP to your local drive. This does not back up your Database which you have to do it separately
Backing up SMF Forum Database - SMF Documentation above suggests one to use phpMyAdmin for this purpose. Since my host didn't provide phpMyAdmin, I backed the database from within the forum itself - Log in As Admin, go to Maintenance-->Forum Maintenance and you will see "Backtup Database". Mark Save the table structure and Save the table data and hit on "Download" you should get a .SQL file.
Setting up on new domain & server - On xyz.com, create a folder forum and upload all the files that you have previously downloaded.
Restoring Database on New Server - You need to create a database of the same name as it was earlier. Your host will not likely let you create it. In that case repair_settings.php will come to your rescue. Download it and upload on to both your new and old server and you will know what changes to make [mostly path change settings] Import the SQL file into the Database. DELETE repair_settings.php file as soon as you are done with the migration because of SECURITY reasons as it contains your database login and password.
By this time your forum should be working. However, the forum will be still configured to get images from abc.om.. so log in to the forum on xyz.com and under "Configuration" choose Current Theme and modify the Paths.

Once you are done with the migration, you need to do some SEO so that your old forum search engine rankings are passed on to the new one. Create or edit .htaccess file on abc.com and add
RedirectPermanent /forum http://www.xyz.com/forum

You cannot access your old forum by browser because of the .htaccess file as it will redirect to the new forum.

Published on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 8:15 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Google Labs' SMS Channels - Lacks the WoW effect of Product Engineering

If you have been reading my write-ups, it should be evident by now that my thoughts are biased towards Google :-) Google's Engineers / Developers have the magic touch to churn out a product that has a WoW effect on end consumer. However, Google Labs SMS Channels lacks the WoW effect and seems to be a non-engineered product, in my opinion.

Google Labs SMS Channel was probably launched as a Micro-blogging platform in India. The top channels serve Cricket Score, News etc. I am wondering what will be the relevance of such a service when the SMS take more than an hour to reach the end user / subscriber.

Google Engineers think of in CPU cycles to guarantee unmatched highest quality performance ever produced [I am not joking, talk to Dr. John Hennessy, or interview @ Mountain View and you will know] when they are developing a product and their algorithms have to be the most efficient. I found out that Google SMS Channels use only one SMS relaying center hosted by Tata Indicom Andhra Pradesh Circle [probably Hyderabad] bearing the number - 92470 5507.

And now I want to share some thoughts of mine. I am thinking of a scenario where atleast 100 mn users [1/4th of 400mn+ Mobile subscribers in India] are going to use this service. Going by how Google architects its services, they need to add at least 3 relaying centers [Airtel, Vodafone or BSNL and Reliance] in every Telecom Circle of India connected to Hyderabad Google's office. For SMS published on Web or SMS generated by processing of RSS feeds, Google needs to add couple of dozens of racks @ Hyderabad which will be the central unit. One can easily find out the mobile number and the circle where it is activated. So Google's Hyderabad center can send the Mobile Number and the relevant SMS message to the respective circle to relay to the end user, thus reducing the super load the Hyderabad center is currently taking.

Also, their are conflicts between operators in connectivity and delivering messages. For Example, Tata Indicom and BSNL in Karnataka circle. Google has to test these services and make alternate routing arrangements in respective circles. I am sure once they take th challenge they are smart enough to diagnose and fix any such issue.

Good Luck to you before Indians start tweeting :-)

Published on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 2:43 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

1% Matrimony +1.7% Realty Customers are Paid

According to latest report released by Mr. Shah @ ICICI, only 1% of Info Edge India's Customers are paid. In case of Naukri.Com recruiting site this 1% cannot be strictly compared because the payers are the companies and not the candidates.

In case of Naukri.Com 17 mn Resumes with 17,900 paying customers. While with JeevanSaathi matrimony website, 25,300 folks have paid while their are 2.9 mn profiles aspiring to be married. In case of Real Estate website 99Acres, 1.7% of the transactions were paid when compared to the listing size.

Published on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 at 9:47 AM 0 comments

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Busy Accounting Package Challenge Tally

In the Small and Medium Enterprise Business segment, Tally is one of the most widely used software in India for Accounting and Related Purpose. Not any more, Tally has a fantastic competitor,BUSY Business Accounting - by Busy Infotech.

Busy Software Product comes in 3 different versions - Small Business, Traders & Retailers and Manufacturing and Excise.

Today, Busy Infotech in association with NASSCOM said that they will give away FREE Software to NGOs to empower them with efficient accounting practices. Additionally, NGOS can train the Indian youth for finding suitable employment after training themselves on Busy's Accounting Platform. Kind of a Win-Win situation for both as BUSY will be able to establish a platform of Accountants well versed with their software, prompting SMEs to make a purchase of BUSY software for book-keeping.

Ms Rufina Fernandes, CEO said,

The BUSY software can help NGOs in ensuring better funds accountability, efficient management systems and ultimately greater on-the-ground impact. Additionally NGOs can also leverage BUSY for training rural youth and creating opportunities for those who cannot afford the expensive accounting courses currently being offered in private institutes.

BUSY also has a FREE Version for SMEs which you can download and try it here.

Published on Thursday, April 02, 2009 at 1:47 PM 10 comments

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Driving + Walking Directions - Google Maps

Google known for solving complex real world problems has attempted to solve India's Navigation Problem and is quite successful. The company has released Driving Directions + Walking Directions + Transit Route of Local transport on Google Maps.

Here are the Driving Directions to go from Vittal Mallya Road to Jaynagar 4th Block. Total Travel Time is 6.3Km and 14 minutes, during day in Bangalore ?

Google maps India - Driving + Walking Directions

Here is that Map for the route Above.

View Larger Map

Published on Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 10:57 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Women Discreet Shopping - Top Products Sold

The Web is gradually making inroads in Tier-II and Tier-II cities of India. However, women are already shopping on the Net, especially products that can cause them to BUY in-store due to the embarrassment. Here are the Top 10 Products Indian Women like to BUY in Private shopping Online.